A/N: Extra thanks and gratitude to all you lovely people and your reviews.
...
The next few days felt unreal, straight out of a cheesy romance novel: an ordinary girl who had suffered loss and pain, meets an extraordinary, not to mention extremely attractive, man, who takes a special interest in her. Oh yea, and he just so happens to be a Greek god.
Their mornings were spent watching the sunrise. Their afternoons were long walks through tide, the water tickling their ankles. Their evenings were wine driven conversation, embarrassingly honest, raw, and real.
Poseidon would laugh at all of her crazy questions about the immortal world and he would retaliate with ones about her own existence. They would wade out into the surf and he would summon dolphins and beautiful horse-headed-fish-tailed creatures he called "hippocampi".
That was how their days went.
...
One night, with the ocean's sonorous tide whispering in the background, Sally and Poseidon sat on the beach, a nearly empty bottle of rich red wine inducing a conversation that switched between honestly and playful banter.
"If you could do anything in this world, Sally Jackson, what would you do?" Poseidon's loud voice boomed over the quiet beach.
Sally's face was flushed from the wine they had consumed and it made her honest without embarrassment. "I would write."
He cocked his head, intrigued.
She laughed nervously. "I used to love to write. It was my best subject in school. I wanted to go to university to study literature and creative writing, maybe work for a publisher before I could write my own stuff."
"Why didn't you?" Poseidon asked, his voice softer now.
It was a topic she usually avoided. It was too painful to think about; all those things she had wanted, why she gave them up, and why her altruism had only left her with nothing. When people heard her story, they pitied her, and that made her feel weak and inferior to them. But Poseidon didn't pity, and despite his obvious superiority, he never treated her that way.
"My parents died, when I was five, in a plane crash. So I went to live with my uncle Richard, and although he was a great guy, he was in no emotional, physical, or finical state to raise a child. When I was sixteen, Rich was diagnosed with cancer and I dropped out of school my senior year to take care of him. After he died, I got my GED and planned on going to college, but he had left me no money so I've been trying to work to raise money for school. One day," She took a resolute deep breath. "One day I will go to school, and I will learn to write, and I will write a novel about a lost little girl who began to consort with a ridiculous man-of-the-sea."
Poseidon laughed at that, a good hardy laugh, one that was strong and powerful and contagious.
And that was how their nights went.
...
Sally could never really pinpoint the exact moment, but somewhere during their poetic days, she realized she had fallen in love. It was so humiliating for her to confront. Sally had never been in love before. Yes, she had had boyfriends and crushes, even serious relationships. But as someone who was all too familiar with loss and betrayal, she would not let herself become that attached to someone. She never wanted to lose someone ever again.
The fact that she had fallen in love with a Greek god was even more ridiculous. She imagined what her friends would say. Laugh at her, no doubt. Joke and ask if he was good in bed (not that she would know) and make her reveal everything about the man who had finally tamed the wild Sally Jackson. It was just too humiliating to confront.
Whether or not it was his supernatural godly omnipotence or simple perception, Poseidon observed this sudden change and reservation in Sally. His abrupt halt in a lengthy anecdote about how sea creatures were far more magnificent than anything that could fly went unnoticed by Sally as she continued to be completely absorbed in her thoughts. He watched her for a few moments before catching one of her stray curls and tucking it behind her ear.
"What are you thinking about?"
Sally sighed. "Just how stupid I am."
He looked at her curiously.
"I'm not dense Poseidon. I know that absolutely nothing will ever come of this. You're a god. A deity! And I'm just some worthless mortal!"
"You're not worthless to me, Sally."
"Stop it! You're not making this any easier." She suddenly stood up, eager to put distant between them. "I.. I can't do this to myself…" He began to protest. "No just listen to me. I have lost too much in life. My parents. My uncle. My future. I literally have nothing. And I don't want to lose anything ever again. But this past week… It's been… It's been fantastic. And it's reminded me that there are other things worth living for. I know that nothing can ever come of this… But... But I want it… Does that make me irrationally stupid?"
Poseidon looked at her for a long time, not saying anything. Then he stood up, remaining where he was with a good ten feet between them. "Sally, you are the most perceptive, rational, person that I have ever met. I will never lie to you. I can't, because I am far too fond of you to do so. You're right, nothing can ever come this, even if I wanted it to. There are…" He glanced uneasily at the sky, "Complications… But Sally, I see you, better than you see yourself. You try to deny yourself pleasure because you don't want to get hurt again. But what kind of life is that? A life without enjoyment and purpose will only bring you regret when it is too late for you to do anything about it. If you want something, take it. Because for everything you have given, you deserve something for yourself. And I can give that to you."
Sally didn't even stop to think about what he had said; she just closed the distance between them as quickly as possible.